KEENE, N.H. – Junior
Grace Bazin recorded her 100th collegiate point and the Keene State College field hockey team saw four different people find the back of the cage as the Owls used three goals in a 10-minute span to take control and eventually posted a comfortable 5-2 victory over the University of Southern Maine in Little East Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Owl Athletic Complex.
Postgame Interview (Amy Watson)
Postgame Interview (Grace Bazin)
It was the first meeting between the sides since the league tournament championship game last year, won by USM 1-0 on their home field. Today was a far different story, as the Owls (10-2, 2-0 LEC) dominated the action, outshooting the Huskies (3-8, 0-1 LEC) 40-8 while beating them in Keene for the 20th time in 21 tries.
The visitors did score first, as Dylan Barr cleaned up a rebound and fired toward the cage, where Brooke Carson was there to tip it home just 4:07 in. USM got strong goaltending early from Eleanor Folsom, who made seven saves in the opening 15 minutes to keep KSC off the board. Jenessa Foster also stopped shots from the Owls' leading scorers Bazin and
Irini Stefanakos from finding their way in early as Southern Maine nursed a 1-0 lead through one.
The chances continued to flow in the second quarter, and the Owls broke through to tie it in the 23rd minute off a corner.
Molly Murray began the play by inserting to
Alessandra Vidal at the top of the circle. From there, she fired in toward Bazin, who got a piece of it and redirected it to her left, where Murray was there to slide it home. It will still a 1-1 game at halftime, though KSC would awaken in a big way offensively from there, scoring twice in the opening 2:39 out of the locker room. First, Bazin carried into the circle from the left side before finding
Grace Seabury on her right. The Owl sophomore then fired a perfect pass into the middle, where Stefanakos was there to tip it past Folsom for a 2-1 lead at the 31:51 mark. It was 3-1 just 48 seconds later. Pressure in the midfield by Daileanes and Stefanakos created a transition opportunity, with Stefanakos carrying into the circle before throwing a ball in front. It is likely that bid would have gone in except for Foster getting a piece of it, but Bazin was there amongst two fallen Huskies to flip it home.
Keene State made it a three-goal third quarter with five minutes to go as they scored following a corner. Stefanakos began the play by sending to Vidal at the top, who fired into the middle. The ball was deflected away to
Megan Goodwin and then Daileanes, with the latter corralling the ball by the end line to the right of the goal and lofting a shot past Folsom to make it 4-1.
The Owls were mostly able to cruise from there, particularly since they generated all the offense on the afternoon, but Southern Maine did draw to within 4-2 on a tally by Norie Tibbetts with 6:58 left. They did not generate another shot until a little over a minute remained, though, and Bazin put the finishing touches on a milestone day for her with her 20th goal of the season in the final minute, surpassing her season total from 2023.
Bazin has 89 career points with KSC now (39 goals, 11 assists) since transferring from the University of New England and seven multi-goal games this season.
Making her second career start, the Owls got three saves from first year
Katelyn Nicotera in the win. Folsom made nine saves in 45 minutes before Katie Hanlon made eight in the final quarter.
KSC improved to 7-0 at home and is 32-8 all-time against the Huskies.
USM, playing without leading scorer Sage Drinkwater, dropped their fourth straight.
The Owls are back in action on Tuesday (October 8) when they travel to Rivier University (3-7) for a 7:00 p.m. start. Southern Maine hosts Framingham State University (4-5) on the same night.
